WO 2009/001073 and WO 2009/001069, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, describe methods and apparatus for use in conditioning bores used to access hydrocarbon or water-bearing formations. For example, the apparatus described therein may be utilised to maintain the porosity of a bore wall as the pore pressure of the rock surrounding the bore wall falls.
The present invention is described primarily herein with reference to extraction of hydrocarbons, but also has application in other areas, such as water extraction and fluid disposal.